People: Freeths welcomes duo; Chartered surveyor joins management firm; HS2 Board gets additions; former chief exec joins housing association board

The dispute management team at Freeths’ Birmingham office has appointed lawyers Michael Hoskins and Josh Middleton.
 
Hoskins joins from DAC Beachcroft and prior to that spent 5 years at Eversheds. He brings with him a breadth of knowledge and experience in large and complex commercial disputes.

He said: “I am delighted to have joined Freeths at such an exciting time and am very much looking forward to working with the team, our clients and intermediaries”.”
 
In addition, the department has also seen its former trainee solicitor, Josh Middleton qualify into the team. He is currently advising clients across a wide-range of disputes, including complex professional negligence claims and product liability disputes.

Richard Coates, partner and head of Dispute Management in Birmingham said: “Our aim is to recruit the best people. We are delighted to welcome Michael and Josh to the department to enhance its already strong team of lawyers. They have joined at a time when the team and the firm continues to experience exceptional year on year growth”.

Birmingham-based Principle Estate Management has appointed chartered surveyor and leasehold expert Samuel Boot as a consultant.

Boot specialises in valuations and negotiations on leasehold flats and houses for the Birmingham-based practice, which manages contracts nationwide.

He said: “Principle is a very professional firm of managing agents with a growing client base and an excellent reputation.

“I am delighted to have been approached by them to act as a consultant so that they can provide an additional service to their clients. We already have quite a few cases ongoing and I am sure this will continue to expand.”

Brett Williams, managing director of Principle, said: “Principle is a rounded firm of chartered surveyors with a focus on property management.

“As a result we have a number of clients who need specialist advice on leasehold reform matters from time to time.

“This is now a very specialist area of work and we’re pleased to have Samuel acting as a consultant to our firm so that we can support these clients in-house.”

Principle Estate Management was launched in April 2018 by Mr Williams, the former head of residential property management at CPBigwood.

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British engineer and chair of manufacturing body EEF Dame Judith Hackitt has been appointed to the HS2 Board as a non-executive director. She was responsible for the post-Grenfell report on building regulations.

Stephen Hughes has also been appointed to the HS2 Ltd board as non-executive director. Mr. Hughes is an experienced local government leader, having served as chief executive of Birmingham City Council for nearly 10 years. He also help an executive role at Brent Council.

An accountant by profession, Stephen is currently a non-executive director for Housing & Care 21 and Big Band Limited, holding a degree in Economics from Cambridge.

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Tom Murtha has been appointed to the board of West Midlands-based housing association Nehemiah Housing.
 
Murtha was a founding member of SHOUT, the campaign for the promotion of social housing. He retired in 2012 as chief executive of Midland Heart, one of the biggest housing and care organisations in the UK and has provided his services as a chair and non-executive on a number of housing and care boards to the present day.
 
“We are honoured to have him on our Board to help strengthen our governance and assist in the shaping of our future growth strategy. As a long-standing champion for social housing, his passion for diversity, inspirational leadership skills, strong community values and business acumen gained over 40 years in this sector will be invaluable to Nehemiah as we continue our mission to build homes and communities,” said Llewellyn Graham, chief executive of Nehemiah Housing.